By Rey E. Rquejo

The Supreme Court has fined a dismissed Quezon City judge after finding her ignorant of the law when she heard a case without authority.

In a decision written by Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales, the SC en banc ordered Judge Fatima Gonzales-Asdala, presiding judge of Regional Trial Court Branch 87, to pay P40,000, deductible from the P80,000 that the Court withheld over its Jan. 15, 2008 resolution that upheld her removal from the service.

?The Court finds respondent guilty of gross ignorance of law and procedure. She having been earlier dismissed from the service,? the SC ruled, refering to an administrative case where she was found liable for gross insubordination and misconduct.

The controversy stemmed from the complaint by lawyer Ernesto Tabujara III in certain consolidated cases and assigned to Branch 86 presided by Judge Teodoro Bay.

The civil case filed by his wife under the ?Violence Against Women and Their Children Act? for declaration of nullity of marriage, and petition for a writ of habeas corpus involving their son Carlos I?igo. Tabujara said when Asdala issued her May 31, 2006 order, Judge Bay was not yet on official leave which was to start the following day.

As found by the Court of Appeals, the SC noted that Asdala gravely abused her discretion when she acted on the urgent ex-parte motion to order respondent to comply with the habeas writ with urgent motion for partial reconsideration.